Electric glower-lamp.



No. 790,525. PATENTED M'AY 23,1905.

'H.-N POTTER. v ELECTRIC GLOWER LAMP.

APPLIUATIQN FILED AUG. 14 1899. I

I Mia-asses I 1%)?) M'ZPdlf/j 1721 8/22?! a LM z UNITED STATES Patented May 23, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY NOEL POTTER, OF GOTTINGEN, GERMANY, ASSIGN OR TO GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTRIC GLOWER-LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 790,525, dated May 23, 1905.

Application filed August M, 1899. Serial No. 727,147.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that'I, HENRY NOEL POTTER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Gottingen, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Glower-Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electric lamps wherein the incandescingbody is formed from a material or materials having the quality of resisting the passage of the electric current when cold and becoming good conductors of electricity when hot;

One of the objects of the present invention is to so construct lamps of this class as to make them easy of attachment to sockets or holders which are already in use in connection with the old art of incandescent lighting.

The lamps to which my present invention is designed to be applied are usually provided with an electric heater arranged in proximity to the incandescing body or'glower, the function of the heater being to raise the temperature of the said glower until it has become itself a conductor of electricity. These lamps are also generally provided with a ballastwire in series with the glower to serve as a steadying resistance, compensating by its quality of offering increased resistance to the passage of the electric current as its temperature rises for the increasing conductivity of the glower under increments of temperature. It is customary also to supply these lamps with automatic cut-outs for the heater-circuit, so that no current need be wasted after the heater has done its initial work.

7 In order to provide for the convenient coupling of my lamp to fixtures already known and in use and in order, further, to make the general structure of a lamp of this sort com pact and convenient of handling and to render the destructible parts easy of replace- 'ment, I inclose the ballast-wire and the automatic cut-out for the heater in a sealed receptacle or chamber. I provide the said chamber with terminal connections similar to those now employed with commercial incandescent lamps, and I combine the heater and the glower in a detachable part of the lamp structure,

whereby these elements may be readily re- 5 moved and replaced by others of similar structure. I also show-and describe means for rendering the heater separable from the glower and independently replaceable.

' My invention .will be fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of lamp embodying my said invention. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the body of the said lamp. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of my detachable heater. Figs. 4 and 5 show details.

In the drawings, 1 is a glower formed from a rare earth or an intimate mixture of rare 5 earths, and 2 is a .heater located underneath the said glower. The glower is connected at one end through a lead-wire 3 to an arm I, supported upon an insulating-base 5. The

"other end of the glower 1 is connected to a 7 spring 6, which is secured by soldering or otherwise to an arm 7, also supported upon the said base 5. The arm 7 is in electrical connection with a screw-threaded metallic ring 8, surrounding the insulating-block 5, whilethe arm a is out of connection therewith, being supported too far from the edge "of said ring to be in contact therewith. The

arms 4: and 7 are metallic, and they are connected to the insulating-base 5 by screws 9 30 and 10, respectively.

The heater 2 is made up of .a central tubular body of talcite, porcelain, or similar insulating and heat-resisting material and a fine wire or conductor wound spirally around the 5 said body. The heater is supported by passing the ends of the central tubular body over buttons 11 11, formed on the inside of the arms 4 and 7 The heater fits tightly between the said arms, and the electrical connection with 9 the arm 7 is generally made by lapping the terminal of the heating-conductor over the end of the tube next to the arm 7, and thus holding it against the arm.

In the center of the insulating-block 5 is a bushing 12, to which the remaining terminal of the heating-conductor is connected by a wire or conductor 13.

By virtue of the described mounting of the glower 1 the same has an elastic support sufficient to allow for the expansion and contraction of the glower and its connected parts under the influence of changes in temperature.

The parts above described constitute a separable portion of my lamp as a whole. I may or may notjoin with-the said parts a globe 14, preferably of ground glass, and an insulating screw-threaded ring 15, adapted to screw upon the outside of the ring 8 and provided with a shoulder 16, supporting the said globe.

Below the parts described is a sealed exhausted chamber or receptacle 17, provided at each end with circuit-terminals. The upper set of terminals is held mainly within a plaster-of-paris plug 18 and a porcelain or other insulating disk 19, resting on the top of the said plug. Surrounding both the plug and the disk last referred to is a screw-threaded ring 20, which is adapted to screw into the ring 8 on the disk 5. On the top of the disk 19 a ring-terminal 21 is secured by means of screw-bolts 22 22 or other suitable means. Centrally within the said disk is secured a contact-rod 23, just large enough to enter the bushing 12 in the center of the plug or disk 5. A shoulder 24 is formed on the said rod, and a nut is secured to the screw-threaded lower end of the said rod for holding the rod in place.

Within the chamber 17 a vertical rod 25 is supported by means of disks or arms 26 26, of glass or other insulating material. I support upon an insulated pivot 40, connected with the said rod 25, an angular lever 27, one end of which is normally in contact with a terminal 28, supported by and depending from the upper disk or one of the upper arms 26. To the other end of the angular lever 27 I join a ballast-conductor 29, of iron, and I join the remote end of the said iron wire to a wire 30, of nickel or platinum, which is sealed into the disk 26, and thus rigidly connected therewith. Before the lamp begins to operate the tension of the iron wire is sufficient to hold the farther end of the angular lever 27in contact with the terminal 28 against the force of a retractile spring 32, as shown. The wire 30 is joined by a conductor 31 to the ring-terminal 21 on the disk 19. The terminal 28 is joined by a wire or conductor 33 to the contact-rod 23, and the ring 20 is connected by a conductor 34 to the upper end of the conducting-rod 25, the lower end of which rod is connected by a wire 35 to a metallic button 36, held at the lower end of the chamber 17 by a plaster-of-paris plug 37. The pivot, of the angular lever 27 is connected by a wire 38 with a screw-threaded metallic ring 29 on the outside of the said plug 37.

It will be observed that the terminal device at the lower end of lamp structure as a whole is one of the well-known commercial forms with sockets that are also well known. lonnection having been duly made by the inscrtion of the plug shown in such a socket and the circuit of the lamp having been closed, the current will first traverse the following course: ring-terminal 39, conductor 38, pivot 40, the left-hand side of the angular lever27, terminal 28, conductor 33, contactrod 23, bushing 12, conductor 13, heater 2, bar 7, terminal rings 8 and 20, conductor 34, rod 25, conductor 35, and button 36. The heatercircuit of the lamp will thus at once become energized, and the heater will begin to do its work of raising the temperature of the glower until it becomes conductive. When this happens, the glower circuit will be completed over the following course: ring-terminal 39, conductor 38, pivot 40, the right-hand side of the angular lever 27, iron ballast-conductor 29, wires 30 and 31, ring-terminal 21, screwbolt 9, arm 4, lead-wire 3, glower 1, spring 6, arm 7, and from there over the course already described back to the button 36. By the current thus traversing the glower-circuit the iron wire 29 will be heated, and this will cause the expansion of said wire. Thereupon the tension of the spring 32 will be sufiicient to draw the end of the lever 27 away from the terminal 28, thereby automatically breaking the heater-circuit.

The chamber 17 may be an exhausted chamber, or I may seal it up after having replaced the air within the same by some gas which is inert with respect to iron. This is done in order to protect the iron from injury in the heated state.

I usually carry the spring 6 through an opening 41 in the arm 7, and I prefer to insert within the said opening a little ring 42, of glass, so as to prevent contact between the spring and the arm at that point and to reduce the friction in case the spring is tilted out of its central position within the opening 41.

The parts 26 26 may be either in the form of disks of glass or other good insulating material or they may be arms. In either case the outer ends or edges rest against the inner walls of the chamber 17 and hold the parts that are inclosed in the said chamber in position.

In the described construction the heater and the glower are mounted upon a detachable portion of the lamp, and this part can be easily removed and replaced in case of injury.

In Fig. 3 I show means whereby the heater is made independent of the glower and can be replaced independently of the said glower. In this instance the heater-tube is supported, as before, between two arms; but at one end the heater is provided with a separate supporting-arm 43, insulated from the arm 4 by porcelain or other suitable insulating material, as shown at 44. The connection from the central terminal to the heating-conductor is IIO then made by the arm 43 instead of by the wire 13, as before. When it is desired to inserta new heater in place of one that is no longer serviceable, the arm 4:3 is pushed back slightly and the heater-tube is placed over the bead 11 on the arm 6. The other end of the tube having been placed over a similar bead 11 on the arm 43, the said arm is allowed" to fall back into place, whereby the heating-tube is held with sufiicient firmness in position.

It will be understood that the arms 4: and 7 as they appear in Fig.2 are elastic, or that one of them is so, and that the heater is put into place in a manner similar to that above described.

By employing a common terminal-support for corresponding ends of the heater and the glower I am enabled to reduce to three the number of terminals for the detachable parts of my lamp.

While I have thus far described my invention as embodied in lamps of the automatic type in which a preliminary heating of the glowers is effected electrically, its use is not restricted to lamps of this type, since glowers that are heated to conducting temperature by means of a torch or other flaming heat also require steadying resistances, which may be of the inclosed variety and may be in clu'ded in the general arrangement of parts already described.

In general I prefer to mount a standard lamp-base on one end of the ballast-chamber, and to the terminals of this base I connect two conductors, both of which are located within the chamber and one of which is wholly or partially of iron to serve as a steadying resistance. The leads are brought out at the end of the chamber remote from the base and are provided with extensions for attachment to the glower.

Of course I do not confine myself to ballast chambers of any particular form, but design them to harmonize and suit other features'of the lamp and the particular uses to which the lamp is to be put.

In the foregoing I have described lamps in which the steadying device or ballast is located in close proximity to the glower, so that it forms a part of the lamp. It is, however, not necessary that this should be the case, it being practicable to place the steadying re-: sistance in the leads to the lamp at some point remote from the gloweras, for instance, in

the ceiling-block from which the lamp may hang or in the neighborhood of the switchon the wall or in any other place suitably located.

In the case of the automatic lamp both the ballast and the heater cut-out, whether they be combined in the manner previously described or be separate devices, may be removed from the glower and heater; but in this case the socket and attachment devices must be threepoint contacts instead of two point, and three leads must lead from thelamp to the ballast and cut-out device s. However, such three contact-sockets can be made more closely an-- alogous to the standard sockets now in use, and the old sockets may often be adapted to take a third contact. In-the case of non-automatic lamps of course the old two-point sockets are available. In the case of the automatic lamp I mount the heater and glower on a three-point base adapted to fit a three-' point socket. In the case of the non-automatic the glower is simply connected to the ordinary lamp-base fittings.

I claim as my invention 1. An electric lamp comprising aglower, an electric heater, an insulating-support for said members, a heater cut-out, a glower-ballast, and means for making detachable electrical connections between the glower and the ballast and between the heater and the cut-out.

2. In an-electric lamp, the combination with a glower and an electric heater in proximity thereto, of an insulating-support for said members having contact-terminals, a ballast, a

heater cut-out, and a base having contact-terminals with which the contact-terminals on the glower and heater support make detachable contact.

3; An electric lamp comprising, as one structural element, an insulating, heatresisting I base, carrying a glower, an electric heater for the said glower, and circuit-terminals and connections for the said glower and heater, and, as'another structural element, a sealed chamber containing a ballast-conductor and an automatic cut-out in the heater-circuitand having external circuit-terminals at one end corresponding to the terminals on the said insulating-base.

4c. An electric lamp comprising, as one structural element, an insulating, heat-resisting base, carrying a glower, an electric heater for the said glower, and circuit-terminals and connections for the said glower and heater, and, as another structural element, a sealed chamber containing a ballast-conductor and an automatic cut-out inthe heater-circuit and having external circuit-terminals at one end cor{ responding to. the terminals on the said insulating-base, and having external circuit-terminals at the opposite end of the said chamber for connection with the main circuit.

5. An electric lamp comprising, as one structural element, an insulating, heat-resisting base, carrying a glower, an electric heater for circuit, operatively connected with the said ballast-conductor, and having external circuitterminals at one end corresponding to the ter-' resistance, a sealed chamber for said resistance, and means for making detachable connection with the glower-terminals.

7. An electric lamp comprising a sealed chamber having exterior terminals adapted to fit a lamp-socket and containing a steadying resistance, and a glower having supportingterminals that are removably connected to said sealed chamber.

8. An electric lamp comprising a ballast resistance, acontaining-chamber therefor carrying at each end a two-point contact device, one of which at least shall be adapted to fit into a lamp-socket, a glower and a base therefor that is adapted to make contact with one end of the said chamber.

9. An automatic lamp of the type described consisting of a sealed chamber having asteadying resistance and cut-out devices inclosed therein, a base having terminals, a heater and a glower connected to said terminals and means for attaching said base to said chamber.

10. In an electric lamp, an insulating-disk and circuit-terminals mounted thereon, three metallic arms, suitably connected with the said circuit-terminals, a glower and an electric heater in proximity thereto, the said glower and the said heater being botlrin electrical and mechanical connection with one of the said arms, and each being connected to a separate one of the other two arms.

11. In an electric lamp, a glower and an electric heater located in proximity thereto, a common supporting-arm for the said glower and heater and separate supporting-arms for the opposite ends of the said glower and heater.

12. In an electric lamp, a glower and an electricheaterlocated in proximity thereto, a common supporting-arm for the said glower and heater, and separate supporting-arms for the opposite ends thereof, an insulating disk or plate carrying circuit-terminals for the said glower and heater and means for connecting the said arms to the said circuit-terminals.

13. In an electric lamp, a block or base of insulating, heat-resisting material, a glower and an electric heater supported by said block or base, terminal connections for the said heater and glower carried by the said base, one of the said terminal connections being a screw-threaded ring.

14. In an electric lamp, a block or base of insulating, heat-resisting material, a glower and an electric heater supported by said block or base, terminal connections for the said heater and glower carried by the said base,

one of the said terminal connections being a 1 screw-threaded ring, a screw-threaded insulating holder surrounding the said ring and a globe mounted on the said holder.

15. In an electric lamp, a glower, an electric heater therefor, an insulating, heat-resisting base supporting the said glower and heater, and circuit-terminals and connections supported by the said base, one of the said terminals being common to both the heater and the glower.

16. In an electric lamp, an insulating, heatresisting base, a glower and an electric heater therefor, both supported by the said base, a circuit-terminal carried by the said base and connected to both the glower and the heater, and two other circuit-terminals also supported by the said base, and separately connected to the opposite ends of the glower and heater, respectively.

17. In an electric lamp, a glower, an electric heater therefor, an insulating-base, and three circuit-terminals for the said glower and heater, carried by said base, one of the said terminals being common to the heater and the glower, and the other two being individual circuit-terminals for the glower and heater respectively.

18. In an electric lamp, the combination with a ballast resistance, a heater cut-out and a supporting structure for said parts having contact-terminals therefor, of a glower, a heater and a holder for said parts that is removably connected to the said supporting structure and has contact-terminals that engage the supporting-structure terminals.

19. In an electric lamp, the combination with a glower, a heater and a holder for said parts having contact-terminals, of a supporting structure having a glower-ballast, a heater cut-out and contact-terminals that engage with the glower and heater contact-terminals when -the holder is properly attached to the supporting structure.

20. In an electric lamp, the combination with a glower, a heater and a holder for said parts having three contact-terminals one of which is common to both glower and heater, of a supporting structure having a ballast resistance, a heater cut-out and three contactterminals corresponding to the contact-terminals of the holder and with which they make removable engagement.

Signed by me at Hanover, Germany, this 1 1th day of July, 1899.

HENRY NOEL POT ER.

Witnesses:

W. K. ANDERSON, KIRKE LA'runor. 

